Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1987)
». . . k— ..» « • . . . . r -a i >*'r - «• - .7 •*' S *V * ; - . • w i« > I •: * i i • . * 1 — • « •.. r n i k m + m m • - -, •' » ' . . - , * w . --------■ • Enrollment down at Boardman schools p r s s i E U OF WE7ZELL ORE a NEWSPAPER L i E 0 97403 G E N E OR Morrow County’s Home-Owned Newspaper The Heppner imes azette Although enrollment at coiHMy »chooU has increased by 40 pupils since the first day o f school, the count at the end o f two weeks is still down 11 from the same time last year Most o f the decreased enroll ment is at Boardman schools with Riverside High enrollment o ff 38 and Sam Boardman Elementary enrollment down 30 The decreased enrollment has sur prised school officials who were es peeling enrollment in the district's schools to continue to increase, especially at the north end o f the county Some decline in employment at la m b Weston and Portland tieneral Electric's coal fired plant in Board man are hound to he influenc ing the d e c lin in g e n ro llm e n t, S chool Superintendent D oyle M cCaslin said. “ Those are the only things I know o f that could he influenc ing It.” Crow ding at Boardman and Ir ngon schools prompted a study last spring by a committee comprised o f members from school board, ad v is o ry c o m m itte e , and ad mimstrators from throughout the the county The committee recom mended b u ild in g a d d itio n a l classriwims and moving teachers to the north end to handle the growing number o f pupils in the north county The school district architect has been informed o f the current e n ro ll ment figures. McCaslin said His study is pnveeding and I suspect the current enrollment figures w ill have an effect on his building proposal I'm not suggesting that the work done by the population research center at Portland State U niversity is w rong, he said, because in the long term, population may increase as much as we anticipated We also are depending o il the agriculture and processing industries as well as POE to bring in students Enrollment at Irrigon schools has increased by 22 at the elementary schsxil and by tw o at the junior high schtiol which is consistent w ith the . . inesday. September 16, 1987 By A vo n M elby A time schedule for planning and construction o f remodeling Heppner Hotel into a Senior Citizen housing complex and center was outlined at Heppner C ity Council last week M ax K oeper of H anson, Dunahaugh. Nicholsen. Portland ar chilect firm , said the bids would he let A p ril 4, 1488. w ith construction to start A p ril 20 Completion date was set at November 8 Design work w ill take until the end o f January, and any changes re quired w ill he worked out by the end o f February Bids w ill be called M arch 3. Payment by the city is scheduled to run between $ 73 .0 0 0 and $76.000. B ill Kuhn, city attorney, told the council. There w ill be a $3.000 “ up fro n t” payment which w ill come out o f the state grant the city has been promised. Additional payments w ill he made by percen tage o f the work done on a coni mu ing basis Right now, and until about Nov 21. the architect is reviewing ideas w ith the Senior Citizen and Council building committee Application for approval o f those plans w ill be presented to the State Historical Commission on October 22 w ith a response expected by November 4 Kuhn said an agreement between the city and Seniors for a 44-ycar lease for the Senior Center, which is to take up all the first fl«k>r except fo r an entrance hall, has been work ed out. The Seniors w ill manage their portion ot (he building Ihe ci ty/senkir committee wiIk meet once a year to work out any problems which might develop Kuhn said the contract w ith the Seniors w ill he drawn up and ready lo r signatures mhw Dav id Sykes asked the council lor water to serve a day picnic and swimming area now being developed by W illo w Creek Park D istrict There is a three inch mam through the area Domestic water w ill he needed tor sinks, toilets and irnga tion. The D istrict has operating funds and w ill pay commercial rates to the city He said the location has been changed fn m i south o f the Balm Fork bridge because the water in the lake itself was better quality than the sue chosen earlier It w ill be near the boating ramp but cut o ff from it on a new access road I .and scaping and trees w ill cut o ff wind fo r picnickers and swimmers Plans also call for a new fishing platform and tra il fo r the handicapped, and a new boat courtesy dock There w ill be a new sandy beach installed, and a sizable parking area Buoys and Boardman man will go to trial second time Jon Thomas Starke, 36. B*»ard man. w ill go to trial again on charges o f Attempted Rape I. Assault IV . and Burglary I, M orro w County D istrict Attorney Jeff Wallace said Tuesday A new trial date w ill be set by the presiding judge o f the circu it court, the district attorney -.aid Staikc was tned earlier (his month on the same charges, hut the tria l resulted in a hung ju ry , so it's as i f no trial had taken place. W r had the options o f trying the case again or dismissing the charges, he said Heppner 25« rope w ill keep boats away from the swim m ing area Dicre w ill be im provement to the existing road, and a connection to the paved boat ramp 10 Pages His request was granted Water cost per month for the RV park on M ain Street was reduced to $18 Owner John Skow said it had t actually no usage and he was on ly keeping five spaces open for hunters or con*ruction workers who might come in I f the business picks Away they Go ^ Commissioner Jerry Peck helps Tony Beckett tie a message to « balloon to be -van released during ceremonies honoring the | bicentennial of the U S Constitution Tues day Commissioners and students from Heppner Elementary school planted a red maple on the back lawn of the Courthouse i before releasing the balloons Commissioner Peck read the preamble to the constitution, County Clerk Barbara Bloodsworth read a summary of the articles of constitution, and Commissioner Irv Rauch presented a history of the writing of the con stitution to Heppner Elementary Student Body President Nina Tucker County Judge Louis Carlson read a proclamation honoring the 200 years of the Constitution 29 « its ana» * i **» tu in in ti« in * c I \U It« IM iM m « J* I» » If H.fh felfead loW Mig* Vife»4 » M*ffe felfeferf Boeing plans to expand space park near Boardman By A vo n M elby Boeing Co has applied for a rone change on land south o f a space research park established by the company last year near Boardman An additional 14.300acres would be included, allowing testing o f a vane ty o f exotic space hardware M orrow County Planning Com mission w ill act on the application at a regular meeting September 28 at November 1988 set for completion of hotel project VOL 105 NO 37 d is tric t's expectations An increase of students at lone since this time last year also came as a surprise Crow ding conditions have not changed much in spite o f the decreased e n ro llm e n t. the superintendent continued I f the decline continues, which we don’t think it w ill, the crowding w ill decrease, he said No changes in d iitric t staffing are foreseen at this point up and more people arc using the facility water use w ill he rt-lsscssed. Liquor licenses for Heppner Elks C lub. Bud s Pub. Kate's Pizza and Wagon Wheel Calc were approved. Councilman W ilb ur Jackson said he had cable for handiails and other material for rebuilding the foot bridge across W illow Creek near the RV park, and work w ill get under w ay soon He also reported the date for I own C ou ntry observance has been set and the banquet w ill be January 13 Police C hict Doug Rathbun said he needed $2,000 to pay for over lin k ' Overtime piled up when only two officers were on duty for two months because the third officer was injured He said, in answer to a question, that actual cost due now is $700 overtime, hut that would leave no more money fo r overtime fo r the officers in the future Overtime was IV ) hours already, he said Coun cilman lo rn Denton said $720 should cover the cost anti the depart iik-iii would |iisi have to double up in scheduling its tunc some way so it could get by without further o ve r time Ihe council voted to transfer enough iik*ney from the general fund to cover the already run up overtime A list o f several landowners who have not cleaned up their property was read and City Manager Marshall Lovgren was instructed to w rite let ters demanding they do so o r the ci iv would do it and h ill them City Foreman Dave W inters ask ed to he allowed to purchase a two- way radio for his department, stating it should cost about $600 to $400 He was told to get one at the best price he could find Ihe council was told the hospital has asked the city to remove its alarm for the float devise in Shobe Canyon which automatically goes o ff in event o f flik id Council members said ihe device belongs to the Corps o f Engineers, was placed there by ihe Corps . and is the c ity 's only warning for fltkkling in Shohe Ca nyon Councilman Denton said she would call the hospital and tell them about the problem 7 30 p m in the schtkil hoard rik»m o f die Irv in g to n School O ffice building Deane Seeger. M orrow County Planning Director, said he was not aware o f plans the company has lo r use o f the expanded site He said it is not required that explicit use be revealed in order to obtain a zone change However, a story on the front page of the Portland Oregonian last week quoted Elizabeth Warman as saying ihe tract may ultimately he used for the development o f transat iikisphenc planes, space chamber, lasers, missiles and other high tech "hardware Warman is public affairs manager for the Boeing Commercial Airplane C o., a subsidiary o f ihe aerospace firm at Seattle Boeing leased 46,000 acres from the state on a 44 year lease in the early 1460s At that tim e, the com pany was planning o r f»nlding and testing aerospace hardware wheih could be shipped down the Colum bia River and cast to Florida I hose plans did not develop, but the tract was known as Boeing's Space Age Park Much o f the lund eventually returned to agriculture w ith cattle and com raised on it Some has been sub leased to farmers Las y ear the company built u laser research complex on 6.000 acres n had zoned as «pace research, just south o f I 84 W ork has been under way there for sonic time I he com plex is under tight security, is fenc ed. and cloved to the public Seeger said the location o f the Boeing land is such that nothing it would he doing (here would affect the possible locution o l a supercon ducting super collider proposed by the slate The N avy's 47,000 acre bombing range is between the tw o locations Anyw ay, the proposed super collider would only come in to M orrow County about eight miles on the east side " I can't see adverse e ffe c ts ." Seeger said “ Anything that Boeing docs on that land would only ini prove the economy o f M orrow County " To develop disaster plan County emergency personnel met in Boardman Monday night to begin developing a county-wide plan o f ac lion to follow if a major disuster should occur Accidents involving hazardous materials are the prim ary concern Boardman Assistant Eire C hicl M ilt Reynolds is in churge o f drafting the plan which w ill involve all city and county police and lire departments in the whole county The plan required by the Depart ment o f Environmental (Quality, must he completed by October, I ‘>88 Farmers learn they must identify impure seed beore it’s planted Local fanners have been left holding the hug fu ll o f weeds— because some grass seed planted on CRP ground has come up infested w ith noxious weeds There's not much they can do about it either ex cept fight the weeds Heppner rancher Paul Brown was only one o f nearly 60 local farmers and ranchers who showed up at a m ee ting last F rid a y at the fairgrounds Farmers explained pro blems they have had w ith seed pur chased for planting on Conservation Reserve Program acres Brown planted 360 acres o f pubes cent wheat grass last March Now that the grass is waist high, so arc the Yellow Starthistlc Brown has lived his life on the same Heppner farm He called M orrow County Weed Supervisor Jim VanW inklc to help identify the weed because he had never seen it before The weed must have been in the seed because it's growing in the same furrow as the grass planted beside it. he said Yellow St.irthistle is an “ A' ' list weed in M orro w County which means that landowners are respoti sihle fo r its eradication Those who refuse to control “ A " list or noxkius weeds may he cited I f a landowner chooses to ignore a citation for failure to control an ” A ” list weed, the weed supervisor has authority to spray the weeds, or to hire it done at the landowner's expense Brown and his w ife Betty have been combing their field for the weed They arc digging it out by the nkits. storing it in plastic hags; and hauling it hack to the ham He in tends to burn the weeds when they dry T hey're d iffic u lt to hum , hut Brown thinks that by incinerating them in a barrel the flames w ill get hot enough to consume the stalks Another problem presented by the weed is that the seed pods dry and send out chutes sim ilar to those o f a dandelion Because Yellow Starthistlc is listed on the state's noxious weed list as w ell as M orro w C ounty's, Bob Brown, program supervisor for Noxious Weed C ontrol fo r Oregon said state law docs give farmers some protection The law stales that there is no tolerance fo r noxious weed seeds in grass seed The pro blcm . County Weed Supervisor Jim Van W inkle points out. is (hat the lab only tests 130 grams o f seed for nox ious weed seeds “ Just because a sample tests clean does not always mean that there are no weed seeds there.” he said. In adiition. not all o f the seed farmers received was what they paid fo r. Brow n, and some o f his neighbors purchased Pubescent Wheat (Jrass lo r $2 4(1 per pound Yet his field is nearly h alf Tall Wheat Grass which sells for $1 pet jsiuiul The rik it system o f the pubescent variety spreads faster and sends up shtkits for quicker ground « -#v * 'W. if ■ ■ ' t&V ■ cover. The tall variety also requires more moisture than the pubescent creating another problem for dryland farmers. Seed dealers faced a sudden de mand for grass seed that was so great that there were inadequate sources o f pure seed, a wholesaler pointed out From the Oregon Department o f Agriculture. Dave Turner, assistant administrator o f the Com m odity In spcction D ivision, told farmers that the truth in labeling law was the main protection they had against get ting something other than what they purchased. “ I f a label says 100% peanuts, the hag must not contain kum quats." he said He warned farmers not to buy seed without a tag attached stating what kind o f seed was inside Unopened bags o f seed. * ; . i*- s * • i''* «• X « . . - • • . — V -V > L ’ * • - : j . J . * . 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